a massive fire aboard a cargo ship at one of the nation's largest ports. two firefighters dead, and now questions about why they weren't trained to fight this kind of fire the white house cocaine mystery. new details about where it was found in the west wing. and the warning why its owner may never be found. twitter versus threads. 30 million sign up in less than 24 hours the looming legal battle, and the big catch if you want to hit delete missing man mystery. houston police say a man who disappeared eight years ago was actually home the whole time the bizarre case. the company behind a doomed submersible makes a major announcement about its future. triple threat. what you need to know about the vaccines for flu, covid, and rsv, ahead of another tripledemic. and just in, approval for a groundbreaking drug to help slow alzheimer's disease, bringing new hope to millions

>> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt >> good evening, and >> good evening, and welcome, everyone it would be easy to dismiss the heatwaves enveloping parts of the country as simply the price of summer. but the extreme temperatures and durations we are seeing are part of a disturbing trend worldwide as scientists say the planet is seeing some of its warmest days on record. here at home, some 24 million people are living under heat alerts the temperatures that have been broiling the southwest for weeks are expanding to florida and into the northeast with temperatures in the mid-90s, burlington, vermont, syracuse, new york, joining el paso, tucson, and phoenix in chasing new record highs. phoenix already with six consecutive days of temps at 110 and above. the brutal heat combined with poor air quality creating oppressive conditions for millions emilie ikeda is tracking it all for us tonight

>> reporter: tonight, that deadly heat hovering over parts of the south for weeks -- >> today is going to be our 21st day of back-to-back triple digits >> reporter: -- now expanding its grip northward. >> it's really, really hot. >> reporter: cities approaching record high temperatures thousands of miles apart. 110 degrees in tucson. 94 in tampa. and 94 in syracuse >> i have asthma, so, the air quality is really hard on my lungs. and then with the heat on top, it's like having a meltdown all in one >> reporter: and in connecticut, which activated its extreme hot weather protocol, parents prepared for a scorcher. >> we get plenty of water and sunscreen, and they go to the pool three times a day. >> reporter: even officials along america's shorelines urging beach-goers to take precautions >> the temperatures have been getting hotter the beaches have been hotter so, we need to get that message out that, stay hhydrated, take care of yourself >> reporter: the world navigating uncharted territory in recent months

with record low sea ice levels near antarctica, unprecedented surface temperatures in the north atlantic ocean, and the hottest day on earth reached multiple times this week and that blazing sun priming conditions for ground-level ozone, when pollutants chemically react in the sunlight, prompting air quality alerts for 24 million people today in the northeast. >> that's bad. that's not normal. look at this >> reporter: the hazy skies aren't as severe as that apom calyptic orange from wildfires last month, but experts say it all adds up, as mounting research links air pollution with poor physical and mental health >> we're having a public issue of air and lung health, but also of confinement and further isolation. >> reporter: emilie, let's circle back to the air quality. i know what we're seeing rite now is elevated ozone. but are we free of the risk from the canadian wildfires? >> reporter: well, lester, forecasters say it's very likely we'll continue to see impacts, as canada's wildfire season presses on for an expected several more

months, and already, we're seeing an unprecedented impact here in the u.s., from new york, which you can see an overview of the skyline, to chicago and cincinnati a growing list of cities have recorded their worst air quality on record this summer lester >> all right, emilie, thank you. the brutal heat added to the misery for those fighting a deadly fire overnight on a cargo ship at one of the nation's busiest ports. and now wie learni we're learg the firefighters weren't trained to fight that kind of a blaze. ron allen has details. >> reporter: overnight, newar a massive inferno. a huge cargo ship loading up more than a thousand vehicles and containers engulfed in fire apparently ignited officials say when five or six vehicles caught fire for unknown reasons. >> all units, evacuation yourself immediately! >> reporter: just an hour into the fight, a mayday call, and then another. firefighters augusto acabou, 45, a

nine-year veteran, and wayne brooks, 49, 16 years of service, were both trapped, and then rescued, but died later at the hospital. >> our hearts go out to them and their family members, and brothers and sisters of the fire service who had to see them in their last moments >> reporter: officials say newark's firefighters from a dense urban city had not trained to battle fires on such a huge cargo vessel, 12 stories high hundreds of reinforcements arrived from across the state. several injured, exhaustion, burns, respiratory distress >> this tragedy is a painful reminder of the dangers our firefighters face and their remarkable courage. >> reporter: throughout the day, tributes in the community where the two lived and worked jose alves says he worked overtime shifts with both men killed what are your thoughts and feelings >> my thoughts are, it's very sad, it's -- it's very emotional. you couldn't ask for any better individuals, good firemen. >> reporter: jason torres manages a restaurant across from a firehouse. >> they help us out. we see them all the time it's a tough loss, in the community especially. >> reporter: the cause of the fire is under

investigation. the ship's owner, an italian company, says it's doing everything it can to cooperate with authorities lester >> all right, ron allen in newark tonight, thank you. there is breaking news about oceangate, the company that operated that doomed submersible, announcing today it is suspending all exploration and commercial operations. five people died aboard the submersible when it imploded last month while on a voyage to the titanic. now to a mystery of a missing man out of texas. police say a houston mom reported her teen missing eight years ago. he turned up this week but today officials said he was home the whole time. priscilla thompson reports. >> reporter: draped in a towel, but alive new images of rudy farias, as the mustry around his disappearance deepens. the 25-year-old was allegedly found last week outside a church and unresponsive, his family says. eight years after he allegedly vanished

without a trace while walking his dogs his mother janie santana reported the then 17-year-old missing on march 7th, 2015 but investigators now say he was home with her almost the entire time >> it was discovered that rudy returned home the following day on march 8th, 2015 >> reporter: the stunning revelation uncovered after police interviewed farias >> the mother janie continued to deceive police by remaining adamant that rudy was still missing. >> reporter: santana even releasing a statement after her son was found, thanking the media and the public for their support, writing, "my son rudy is receiving the care he needs to overcome his trauma but at this time, he is nonverbal and nonot able to communicate with us. investigators say farias and his mom had several run-ins with police over the years, but gave fake names and birthdays. so he remained a missing person

tonight no clues as to why the mother and son would knowingly keep the lie going, but police say they do not suspect foul play >> we don't have any information to say there was any kind of kidnapping or anything like that right now. >> reporter: and as for what's next, police say the investigation is still ongoing, and that santana could still be charged for giving false information in a police report. lester >> priscilla thompson, thank you. a personal aide to former president donald trump was in court today. walt nauta pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he helped mr. trump hide classified documents at mar-a-lago a newly unsealed affidavit describes security footage of nauta moving boxes from a storage room where trump's lawyers previously admit they kept classified documents. now to new developments into the investigation of that small bag of cocaine found in the west wing kelly o'donnell is at the white house tonight. kelly, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, officials familiar with the investigation, lester, say the inquiry could be wrapped up by monday sources also provided an updated location where the small baggie of cocaine was found sunday, pointing to a

storage cubby inside the entrance off west executive drive. this is the floor below the oval office. and officials say it was in the area close to the situation room. sources were also blunt, saying it's likely they will not solve this, and the baggie remains available for additional testing, where they will try to find forensic evidence lester >> kelly o'donnell, thanks. now to the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of yevgeny prigozhin, the mercenary who led his private army in an aborted march on moscow. keir simmons reports from belarus. >> reporter: tonight, yevgeny prigozhin again facing a perilous future. the mercenary who led a mutiny in russia so angering vladimir putin was thought to be in exile in belarus but when nbc news was invited today to presidential palace in the capital, minsk, its autocratic leader distanced himself. his deal to bring prigozhin to

belarus undone for now, and he may never come, president lukashenko says. trntd he. >> translator: he is located in st. petersburg where is he this morning? he could have gone to moscow or maybe somewhere else >> reporter: people will be surprised and mystified that a man who you say could have caused a civil war in russia is still in russia. >> translator: i said everything that i'm allowed to say. >> reporter: on the streets of minsk, some telling us they never wanted prigozhin or his soldiers here. >> yeah, very bad. >> reporter: prigozhin himself heard, but not seen. promising in a recent audio message new victories on the front liline president puputin has beenen busy tryingng to reassert his power and his view of prigozhin unclear tonighght. but russian state tv, which once lauded prigozhin and his wagner fighters as heroes now calling him a traitor and a criminal he had a charmed life, this russian report says, showing images

unverified by nbc news of a police raid on his st. petersburg home, with millions of dollars in bills, fake passports, and even wigs prigozhin discredited, but not in danger, lukashenko insisted today. >> translator: if you think that putin is so evil and vengaeful tha he'll whack him tomorrow somewhere, as we say in russian, then no. this won't happen. this will not happen. >> reporter: but president putin has not been prepared to even say prigozhin's name now they are back in the same country. long-term, that seems an uncomfortable compromise lester >> the mystery continues. all right, keir, thank you. now, to an nbc news exclusive secret talks between former u.s. officials and top russian figures aimed at paving the way for peace negotiations over ukraine john lederman joins me now. josh, what more are we learning >> reporter: lester, current and former u.s. officials say this back channel includes a private meeting that russia's foreign minister

sergey lavrov held in april during a brief trip to new york on the american side were several former white house and state department staffers who have deep experience with ru russia now, these are not actual peace talks, but they are aimed at helping end the war. both sides testing out compromises for dealing with the toughest issues, like what happened to russian-held territories that ukraine may never liberate the biden administration isn't directing these talks, but sources tell us that after that lavrov meeting, the americans briefed the white house about what they discussed. lester >> josh, thank you. in 60 seconds, breaking news. a new drug just approved for alzheimer's disease. how it's giving millions new hope.

there is breaking news from the fda for the millions of american families facing alzheimer's disease. approval for a first of its kind drug it offers real hope for slowing

progression of the disease. here's kate snow >> reporter: it's the first time a drug meant to slow the progression of aldz himmer's diseases has ever been granted full regulatory approval. in a clinical trial involving about 1,800 patients in the early stages of alzheimer's, the drug leqembi slowed cognitive decline by 27% over an 18-month period, compared to people who took a placebo >> i really cannot overstate how important today is this is really a game changer for our field. >> reporter: the drug targets a type of protein in the brain thought to be one of the leading causes of alzheimer's. john domack was diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's at 56. he joined a trial at the cleveland clinic, receiving infusions every other week in the beginning, he and his wife anne weren't told if it was leqembi or a placebo, but for the past year, he's been on leqembi >> i've been on it for a while. i think it's helped me >> reporter: his cognitive function has declined slightly, they say, but not by

much >> we get that it's not a cure but there was nothing when we got our diagnosis, nothing. now there is something that we can do. >> reporter: it gives you hope >> uh-huh, sure. >> yeah, unbelievably. i mean, we had none. >> reporter: since john is still in a trial, they're not paying for leqembi, but the list price is 26,500 a year medicare plans to provide coverage as long as a doctor agrees to submit patient data there are side effects. trials found a greater risk of brain swelling and brain bleeds for patients on leqembi, believing some doctors with concerns. >> the risk and benefits are quite disproportionate in favor of risk. and therefore, this is not a therapy that patients should really consider taking. >> reporter: for the domacks, though -- >> it was go with a drug that might work or nothing. what would you do? >> reporter: they're traveling to london in august. >> alzheimer's threw us for a loop. this drug has thrown us a lifeline

>> reporter: kate snow, nbc news, new york in the wake of last year's tripledemic, health officials are trying to prevent a repeat this fall. chief medical correspondent dr. john torres is here. john, last year we saw flu, rsv and covid all at the same time. >> lester, last winter we had the three virus, influenza, covid, rsv they all ended up peaking at the same time. although these viruses don't typically occur all at once, this coming fall and winter might be a repeat of last year's tripledemic. so it's best to protect yourself as much as possible, and that includes getting vaccinated in the fall against these viruses. >> and should americans get all the vaccines at the same time or space them out >> well, if you qualify, you can get all three vaccines at the same time. but if possible, spacing them out by a few weeks might give you small increases in protection against these viruses. and as a reminder, lester, people should talk to their doctors. >> all right dr. john, thanks very much when we return,

meta's new app, threads, draws millions, but will it land mark zuckerberg in court

we're back with more on the launch of meta's new app, threads, which takes direct aim at elon musk's twitter tens of millions signed up on day one, but now twitter is threatening to sue here's erin mclaughlin >> reporter: tonight, twitter is threatening to sue hours after rival app

threads made its first move to sew up the competition. today, the app's founder, mark zuckerberg, boasting 30 million signups and counting, more than 24 hours after its surprise launch wednesday evening. >> it certainly has a bigger user base than i expected in the first 24 hours so here we go. twitter versus threads. it's on. >> reporter: now twitter's lawyer demanding thread's owner meta stop using any twitter trade secrets. today, elon musk tweeting, "competition is fine, cheating is not. meta denies the allegations. the early success of threads experts say is in part thanks to the app's requirement that all users sign in with an instagram account, giving it the ability to easily leverage their 2 billion strong user base. >> certain apps may be hanging on by a thread once this drops. >> reporter: so far, the feedback has been mixed. with some zeroing in on the app's algorithm and its powerover the user's timeline. >> i don't want to see what's trending. i just want to follow

my friends th why doesn't inunderstand this? >> reporter: others bemoaning the lack of features, including no direct message. and you can't delete and you can't delete your threads account without also deleting instagram threads acknowledging it will take time. >> i think this is a rush to take advantage of the fact that people right now are looking for an alternative to twitter. >> reporter: this is far from the first time zuckerberg has been accused of mimicking a popular social app instagram stories and reels features are remarkably similar to snapchat and tiktok. but now twitter is threatening to take this battle out of the virtual arena and into court. >> well, how is this different from twitter? well, it's not >> reporter: threads is available in america, but not the eu, due to rell lakes. experts say that is going to be critical to reaching zuckerberg's goal of 1 billion users. lester >> all right, erin, thank you very much. up next, the sisters of the skies who are changing the aviation industry.

finally tonight, a sisterhood making history in the sky yamiche alcindor with the women ensuring the next generation takes flight >> reporter: jada williamson's always dreamed of sitting in the cockpit and calling the shots. >> what i like about flying is i -- you get to see different things you've never seen. >> reporter: but that dream of a career in aviation is a rare one for black girls to acome establish, with fewer than 1% of pilots women of color.

>> it was tough, i won't lie, because there was no one that looked like me >> reporter: now captain theresa claiborne is part of a group of trailblazing black women pilots hoping to increase those numbers. >> we believe, if they see it, they can be it >> reporter: she was the first black female pilot in the u.s. air force, and is president of sisters of the skies she is now a united airlines pilot why do you think more black women aren't becoming pilots >> it's extremely expensive. i mean, it takes upwards of $100,000 to get your licensing to fly. so, if our young ladies are not seeing it, if their parents don't have the funding for it, then it's not going to happen. >> reporter: sisters of the skies provides scholarships, mentorships -- >> that's going to give you your up and down. >> reporter: and events like this one in colorado. >> i like flying and things and i really wanted to learn how to and then i kept watching videos like "top gun" and i learned about a lot of things about flying so i wanted to try it. >> i love the plans and i love the e listen troiks.

it was really cool, because i never met a pilot before ever in my life. >> reporter: madeline starr was part of the program. now she is paying it forward. a mentor herself and a pilot for united airlines, just like her mentor captain claiborne. >> that was really helpful to know that i wasn't alone one of the young girls walked up to me, she was like, you're the first girl pilot i've ever seen. it's something that's going to stick with them >> reporter: what's your advice for a black woman who might watch this who says, i want to be a pilot, but i'm nervous, i'll scared >> do it i was nervous, i was scared they can do it and we're there to help them do it. >> reporter: yamiche alcindor, nbc news, washington >> aiming high i love it. that's "nightly news" for this thursday.

♪ ♪ >> kelly: welcomes of "the kelly clarkson show." we usually start with the music, but my voice is so tired. all of the jobs are colliding. we are digging into our archives to bring you season two. here is me and my band. this is justin bieber's sorry. ♪ you gotta go and get angry at all of my honesty ♪ ♪ you know i try but i don't do

too well with apologies ♪ ♪ i hope i don't run out of time ♪ ♪ could someone call a referee ♪ ♪ 'cause i just need one more shot at forgiveness ♪ ♪ i know you know that i made ♪ ♪ those mistakes maybe once or twice ♪ ♪ by once or twice i mean maybe a couple a hundred times ♪ ♪ so let me oh let me redeem oh redeem ♪ ♪ oh myself tonight ♪ ♪ 'cause i just need one more shot at second chances ♪ ♪ yeah is it too late now to say sorry ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm missing more than just your body ♪ ♪ oh is it too late now to say sorry ♪ ♪ yeah i know that i let you down ♪ ♪ is it too late to say i'm sorry now ♪ ♪ i'm sorry yeah ♪

♪ i'm not just trying to get you back on me ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm missing more than just your body ♪ ♪ oh, is it too late now to say sorry ♪ ♪ yeah i know that i let you down ♪ ♪ is it too late to say i'm sorry now ♪ ♪ sorry ♪ ♪ sorry ♪ ♪ is it too late to say that i'm sorry ♪ >> kelly: let's give it up for my band. let's start off with our first guest, he is an emmy-winning actor and producer. this is the first time he has been here since the end of his moving and memorable show this is us. he won an emmy and three

s.a.g. awards for that. his new movie is biosphere. say hello to sterling k. brown. [applause] ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> kelly: i love we kind of match a little bit. >> cream, earth tones, whatever. >> how is your summer going? >> spending time with the family, going to go to germany. i am going to duesseldorf because my son is a footballer.

he is actually soccer here, he is going to this camp in germany so he gets to play international competitions. >> kelly: that is huge in europe. what an honor to get to play with him. >> i grew up playing soccer too, but you play soccer until you can play football. >> kelly: one of your sons is into football. your other son. >> he has gotten into the fencing. it is very posh. he does this whole thing. i say keep it up.

this will get us into college. it is one of those niche things. stick with it. >> to see your children pass you and anything is a great moment. my kids play chess. i play chess as well. we try to be that boujie black family. my oldest will try to beat me. when he gets that job, he knows he earned it. >> that is going to be a proud moment when he kicks your.

i am looking forward to that. you just went back to st. louis. that would terrify me. >> it is the writing of the speech that is the most terrifying. you know what it is like to not give a flying fig newton about what anybody says. trying to come up with something that sticks to people's ribs. hopefully i accomplish that. >> kelly: that is cool. john hamm, cedric the entertainer, so many people from st. louis. did you know them beforehand? >> i met cedric the entertainer before because my wife, god father his financial planner. that is how i know